Government of India has launched the Namami Gange Programme in May 2015, with the total budgetary outlay of Rs. 20,000 crore for the period from 2014-2015 till 31 December 2020 to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of National River Ganga and its tributaries.

Namami Gange Programme – is an umbrella programme which integrates previous and currently ongoing initiatives by enhancing efficiency, extracting synergies and supplementing them with more comprehensive & better coordinated interventions.

Government of India is supplementing the efforts of the state governments in addressing the pollution of river Ganga by providing financial assistance to the states.

961 Grossly Polluting Industries (GPIs) have been identified on main stem of river Ganga.

Cleaning of the river is a continuous process and efforts are being made to complete the projects by the year 2020 for creating adequate Sewage Treatment Capacity.

Background:

Each day, more than 500 million liters of wastewater from industrial sources are dumped directly into Ganga. In many places, this wastewater entering the rivers is completely raw, completely untreated.

Main Pillars of the Namami Gange Programme are:

Sewerage Treatment Infrastructure

River-Surface Cleaning

Afforestation

Industrial Effluent Monitoring

River-Front Development

Bio-Diversity

Public Awareness

Ganga Gram

Its implementation has been divided into:

Entry-Level Activities (for immediate visible impact),

Medium-Term Activities (to be implemented within 5 years of time frame) and

Long-Term Activities (to be implemented within 10 years).

National Mission for Clean Ganga, endeavors to deploy best available knowledge and resources across the world for Ganga rejuvenation. Clean Ganga has been a perennial attraction for many international countries that have expertise in river rejuvenation.

Countries like Australia, United Kingdom, Germany, Finland, Israel, etc. have shown interest in collaborating with India for Ganga Rejuvenation.

Source: PIB

Mains Question: Critically evaluate the progress made under the Namami Gange programme.